Iceman #4

[alliterator]

"I was approaching the first Iceman run drawing from personal accounts and stories from my friends about the queer late bloomer effect," Grace says. "The first series was a ‘coming out’ story and this new run is a 'being out' story. It's more about living in your skin, finding balance, discovering your community, and deciding what you owe your community."
-- Sina Grace Is Having Too Much Fun Queering 'Iceman'


Previously on Iceman: Bobby discovered that Mister Sinister was using Morlocks in his experiments as a way to draw him out, so Bobby decides to attack Sinister at the same time the X-Men hold a Mutant Pride rally.











(And yes, there is a reason why Sinister's experiments are all holding giant pens -- for some reason, Sinister decided to make his trap for Iceman Merchant of Venice-themed.)

Comments

[lucean]

Question. Why is Bobby Drake, AKA Iceman, AKA one of the most powerful mutants in existance, engaging in fisticuffs with the experiments?

[alliterator]

SPOILERS

Because it's implied that this isn't actually Bobby, but one of his ice clones he's controlling.

[lucean]

Okay, that makes sense. Thanks.

As a sidenote, it does always amuse me how much some writers have to work overtime in order to explain why Bobby doesn't just snap his fingers at problems.

[zachbeacon]

I'd argue that Bobby's most defining characteristic is that he's a guy who is afraid to live up to his potential. Well, that and "sad clown".

(Just as an aside, why did they never collect X-Men Forever; the time travel story, not the Claremont thing? Fabian really seemed to get Iceman. He even showed Mystique pointing out that Bobby went right back to making ice slides after only barely touching his true power).

Hope this isn't the real Bobby. Not crazy about him attacking the monsters that are asking for help ... and practicing their penmanship for some reason.

[lucean]

Completely agreed on the characteristic and I hadn't ever really thought about it like that. However, now that I do, I realize that has always been an aspect of him that I really love even without realizing it.

Like Storm will always have this presence and ability to make grand entrances, yet Bobby who is arguably more powerful than her will always be in the background cracking jokes. It is such a fascinating character dynamic.

[zachbeacon]

I'm inclined to think Storm wins most in- character fights with Iceman even though I think his power dwarfs her's.

It's also interesting to me that Bobby is a CPA. He's generally seen as a goofball slacker but that's an enormous amount of work. It's also work devoted to something "normal".. How many other X-Men have a backup plan ready just in case the superhero thing doesn't work out?

And don't say Cyclops. No one would ever actually hire a pilot who crashes that much. Well, maybe Scrooge McDuck but I assume Launchpad works cheap.

[lordultimus]

This is kind of a controversial opinion, but I don't really like how Sina Grace writes Bobby in this. He comes across as way too flamboyant, even for a jokester like him. It kind of comes across to me like he's written as a gay guy first and everything else second, something that almost never works out in the long wrong.

But then, I'm the guy who thinks that he should have been bi instead.